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Three wishes and the Government's magic wand

I didn't watch all of that damning TV child poverty doco last night. I watched enough as I could bear.

It was made by Bryan Bruce who also made that "Jesus: The Cold Case" thing and whined when TVNZ wouldn't show it on Good Friday when it could cause greatest offense.

Anyway a few days out from a general Election and TVNZ obliges by playing his histrionic "Inside Child Poverty".

The thing is we all know there is child poverty and we all hate and detest that fact.

But Mr Bruce thinks there is some sort of magic fix and the people who can spread the fairy dust to cure this ill are the Government.

My friends any thing the Government can do to ameliorate social ills is at best ambulance at the bottom of the cliff stuff - it is.

And there is a horrible history of misguided Government attempts to cure social ills with social programs, which at best shift problems but usually create a much worse mess. (DPB, No Fault Divorce etc which are both heavily implicated in current Child Poverty issues are they not).

It's like those old stories of being granted three wishes by a demon - the wishes get granted but not in the way the beneficiary expected and in a way that leaves him or her far far worse off.

Just a thought for you to keep in mind while you tick your selected boxes on Saturday.

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